Our Latest Posts About: Bluetooth

Having two independent volume settings is a pain in the neck.

I hate when a device like a mobile phone or cable box has it's own independent volume control, even when it's connected to another device, such as a speaker, headset, or car radio.

This causes all sorts of problems when the device playing audio has it's volume set too low when it's connected to the target device. For example, if the volume on your mobile phone is set too low, your connected devices such as your car stereo will sound way too low, or even distorted. Most of the time, people don't even realize why their connection sounds so bad unless they notice the volume level on their phone.

The solution is simple, whenever you're connected to HDMI or Bluetooth, the volume level on the source device should be... [More]

Wouldn't it be great if there were clubs where everyone wears a Bluetooth headset?

Like a lot of my ideas, this one will sound a little strange at first, so stick with me.

Here's how it would work. You walk into a club, and they hand you a Bluetooth headset. The room is pretty quiet, but there are about a hundred people dancing, so you put the headset on and adjust the volume and start dancing.

An hour later, you see a friend you haven't seen in a while, so you both turn down the volume and find a table and talk about the old days. Unlike traditional clubs, this is the first time you can actually have a conversation.

At some point in the conversation, you mention to your friend you love this club because you love country music, at which point your friend reminds you

I hate buttons, especially when I can't find them.

I've had a love / hate relationship with headsets over the years. I have a small Bluetooth earbud that has exactly one button. That's it. You can use it to answer the phone, lower or raise the volume and that's about it. Sounds easy? Not really. When you want to adjust the volume, you need to hold it down as it slowly raises, then lowers the volume. If you don't act fast, you have to wait for it to start over again. Don't even think of trying to skip tracks, pause the music or anything else. With just one button, it simply can't do much.

Then there's the opposite problem, I have a full sized headset that has 6 or 7 buttons around the right ear, one for answering the phone, another to pause / play music, two more for v... [More]

Carrying dozens of loyalty cards are a pain in the neck. Wouldn't it be better if stores recognized our card number the moment we walk in?

The original idea behind loyalty cards was to give customers discounts in exchange for letting them track our purchases. It's a simple relationship where both sides benefit. The stores get to see the kinds of products you like, and you get a discount.

The key to the whole system is that each customer has their own unique account number. Every time they scan your card (or look it up by phone number), they know what you like, so they can potentially offer sale items coupons for the kinds of things they feel you might like on a future visit.

The trouble is, every store has their own card, so you could potentially have a dozen or more ca... [More]

Our gadgets have come a long way in the past few decades, but our remote controls are stuck in the 90s.

Most of us have so many remote controls, it makes your head spin. The one thing in common is that none of them use Bluetooth.

Take one of those remotes and look at it. Really look at it. How on earth did we advance as a society, yet we still have Stanford Engineers designing remote controls that have 25 year old technology?

If you are reading this in the future, go ahead and laugh at us.

Even if you look at state-of-the-art remote controls, from the top-of-the-line Sony, LG or Samsung TVs, they are chock full of buttons that you can't even read... yet the only ones that get heavy use are simply channel up, channel down, power and volume. What's worse, is they... [More]

This has been driving me crazy for years. I like full sized keyboard with a number pad, but I hate wires. The trouble is, Apple still doesn't make a wireless full sized keyboard.

I love the feel of a genuine Apple keyboard. It took a while to get used to, but the slimline design and tactile feedback are perfectly tuned for speed and comfort. So, although I can find third party wireless full sized keyboards, I've patiently waited for Apple to release a wireless full sized keyboard.

The trouble is... I've been waiting since 2007. Every time they have a big launch event, one of the first things I do is skip the big news and jump to the accessories page of the Apple website, hoping to finally see a wireless Bluetooth keyboard. Time after time, nothing new.

* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.